All good things must come to an end, and UK PonyCon 2017 had been a very good thing indeed. Hawthorn and Rorschfox had gone home after the con on Sunday, but Snowkitten, Bridle Timeout and I were still present to have breakfast together on Monday morning at the slightly more civilised hour of eight o'clock. The breakfast was table service this time, but the stuff I ate was still a mix of fry-up and Continental.
After retrieving our bags and checking out of the Premier Inn, the three of us lugged our stuff to the bus stop, and amazingly (this being First) one turned up almost at once. We needed two buses to get us to Bristol Parkway station, and Bridle did a little spam-zapping on UK of Equestria during the trip. The first bus deposited us at Cribbs Causeway shopping centre, where we made the brief detour to Pegasus Road, just because.
Our second bus brought us to Parkway, where we ran into a couple of fellow UKPC-goers. One, a first-timer, opined that "Everyone was so friendly!" which was great to hear. On the platform, we saw one of the first in-service Class 800 trains, though naturally it was going to London and we poor Midlands-bound folk had to put up with ye olde CrossCountry Voyager. Still, we all managed to get seats, so no complaints there!
Unbeknownst to us until a quick tweet exchange, Oilyvalves was on the same train, a couple of coaches back. We arranged to meet at New Street, though Bridle stayed on the train as it was continuing to his northern England home town. The other three of us headed for Muffin Break, appropriately enough, where we had a nice relaxed chat. I chose an apple and cinnamon muffin, my favourite flavour and suitable for the con theme.
Eventually, the time came to go home. Oilyvalves went to get his train to the East Midlands while Snowkitten and I headed for Moor Street station and our own transport home. The reasonably quiet service allowed us one last chat about how we really didn't want the con weekend to end, and then after a final hug we both headed for our own homes. An awful lot had happened since Friday, but nearly all of it was fantastic. Roll on 2018!
Additional: as OilyValves' comment reminds me, on the approach to New Street the guard/conductor/whatever on the train made some mildly humorous remarks about the attractions of Birmingham... and mentioned that it was a place where "the wheels of friendship" turned. We did wonder whether he knew! :P
Next time: the infamous merch haul photo!
Tuesday, 31 October 2017
Monday, 30 October 2017
Text Review Roundup: "Uncommon Bond"
Whew, I did get behind whilst I was at UKPC, didn't I? I will try to catch up! Anyway, you know the form. Off we go.
ArthurCrane – no review at time of writing
Batbrony Reviews – positive ("[a few] issues aside, this was a very quietly mature episode with a just as subdued lesson, but one which was very smart and mature")
Cuddlepug – positive (graded B+; "As a critic of Starlight Glimmer, seeing her in this episode made me like the character more than I had previously.")
Derpy News – fairly positive (graded B+; "a decent episode")
Louder Yay – fairly positive (3/5; "For an E24 it's perfectly decent fare, but it's clearly there as a lead-in to the finale")
MLEEP Reviews – mixed (6.5/10; "when you combine the writing of a good writer with that of a bad writer, the result will be an episode that was very average")
Pony Press News Journal – no review at time of writing
Rainbine – very positive (9/10; "It was funny. It was enjoyable. And it used Starlight and Sunburst very well.")
The Super Mario Brony Blog – mixed (2.5/5; "Uncommon Bond at best is an acceptable installment")
TheDragonWarlock – fairly positive (graded B; "I don't find this episode bad at all [though it's] certainly not as good as Starlight's other episode, A Royal Problem.")
Thrond Media Pony Corner – rather negative (50%; "the episode is hardly offensive or anything, but it's also dry and flat ... soulless")
ArthurCrane – no review at time of writing
Batbrony Reviews – positive ("[a few] issues aside, this was a very quietly mature episode with a just as subdued lesson, but one which was very smart and mature")
Cuddlepug – positive (graded B+; "As a critic of Starlight Glimmer, seeing her in this episode made me like the character more than I had previously.")
Derpy News – fairly positive (graded B+; "a decent episode")
Louder Yay – fairly positive (3/5; "For an E24 it's perfectly decent fare, but it's clearly there as a lead-in to the finale")
MLEEP Reviews – mixed (6.5/10; "when you combine the writing of a good writer with that of a bad writer, the result will be an episode that was very average")
Pony Press News Journal – no review at time of writing
Rainbine – very positive (9/10; "It was funny. It was enjoyable. And it used Starlight and Sunburst very well.")
The Super Mario Brony Blog – mixed (2.5/5; "Uncommon Bond at best is an acceptable installment")
TheDragonWarlock – fairly positive (graded B; "I don't find this episode bad at all [though it's] certainly not as good as Starlight's other episode, A Royal Problem.")
Thrond Media Pony Corner – rather negative (50%; "the episode is hardly offensive or anything, but it's also dry and flat ... soulless")
Sunday, 29 October 2017
UK PonyCon 2017 report, part 3: Sunday
Onward! Since there were no official evening events on the Sunday of UK PonyCon, this will be a rather shorter report than that for Saturday, but I think it's still long enough to warrant a page break. And since someone asked: yes, there will be a merch haul photo at some point after the write-ups themselves are done. I didn't get a huge amount, but you'll get the photo anyway, because it's my blog and I want to. :P
Saturday, 28 October 2017
Episode review: S7E24: "Uncommon Bond"
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| I can well believe that Trixie's skull is full of those |
Friday, 27 October 2017
UK PonyCon 2017 report, part 2: Saturday
I got up at six o'clock, which was a fine way to start a holiday weekend, I can tell you. :P At least that allowed me to get up slowly before I met up with Snowkitten and Rorschfox at seven for breakfast. The restaurant was dark and almost deserted, but it was open and since it was included in the room rate, I made the most of it: bacon, sausages, fried egg, tomato, baked beans and hash brown on one plate, then two mini muffins, a bagel, a pancake and a yoghurt on the other. Plus orange juice.
Rorschfox's tiny yet TARDIS-like car took us to the con venue at UWE and we arrived a little before nine, so were able to witness the VIP-tier Raritys sauntering in while we Applejack-style salt-of-the-earth peasants shivered in the near-gale (though there was a rainbow!) and bought our optional-but-everyone-buys-them upgraded lanyards. Come 9:30, though, we plebs were also allowed in. Well, as far as the registration desk, though reg was very quick and smooth. I picked up my con book, weekend pass and Supporter-tier badge and I was in!
Today's report is long, so I've added a page break.
Rorschfox's tiny yet TARDIS-like car took us to the con venue at UWE and we arrived a little before nine, so were able to witness the VIP-tier Raritys sauntering in while we Applejack-style salt-of-the-earth peasants shivered in the near-gale (though there was a rainbow!) and bought our optional-but-everyone-buys-them upgraded lanyards. Come 9:30, though, we plebs were also allowed in. Well, as far as the registration desk, though reg was very quick and smooth. I picked up my con book, weekend pass and Supporter-tier badge and I was in!
Today's report is long, so I've added a page break.
Wednesday, 25 October 2017
UK PonyCon 2017 report, part 1: Friday
UK PonyCon 2017 was fantastic. Let's get that out of the way straight off. My favourite of the six Pony conventions I've been to, so huge thanks to everyone who worked so hard in making it so good.
This year's iteration of the convention was held in Bristol, at the University of the West of England (universally known as UWE, pronounced "Yoo-ee") Exhibition and Conference Centre. The theme for this year was "Wild West and Rodeo", so as you can imagine there was a very strong Apple Family presence. A more unwelcome presence was my cough, the entire weekend, though it was mostly kept under control by the consumption of vast quantities of mints.
This was my fourth UK PonyCon and sixth MLP convention overall, but it was the first time I'd had a travelling companion on the train – Snowkitten. (I know him better under another name, but Snowkitten is the one he used for the con book, so that's what he gets here!) After a quick yet important stop at Muffin Break at Birmingham New Street to get into the mood, we made it to Bristol Parkway on time at just before 2pm. There, we met up with Rorschfox, who I only knew through Twitter but Snowkitten had met before; he'd kindly offered to give us a lift to the hotel where all three of us were staying.
Once we'd negotiated Parkway's bizarre layout – seriously, for a relatively small station the place is a maze – it was a fairly brief journey to the Premier Inn on the Filton roundabout. We checked in and spent a little while chatting about this and that, and (among other things, not all pony-related) Rorschfox gave me a beautiful 4DE Flutterplush, which has always been quite hard to get in the UK, and a really nice card he'd asked Kelly Sheridan to sign with a little message to me while at BronyCon
After dumping our bags, we had a quick scoot(aloo) around Home Bargains to see what they had in the way of Pony. Reshelving meant there wasn't much, but GoH Big Spike was there for a tenner. We then had a decent enough meal (gammon steak in my case) at the Brewers Fayre adjacent to the hotel, and there was of course more chatting. We were slightly disappointed not to meet any other con attendees, but we knew some were getting in much later, and in any case that state of affairs would change.
We all felt we'd like a fairly early night, given that our plans required us to be up before dawn on Saturday morning. As happens irritatingly often, I couldn't get to sleep for ages, and let's just say that I failed the first part of the 6-2-1 Rule with a vengeance. At least I got some shut-eye. I can't imagine how people manage who share rooms with friends; I've always shelled out for a single room at cons, because I absolutely need peace and quiet overnight at my age!
Next time: rainbows, karaoke and Awesome Applejacks
This year's iteration of the convention was held in Bristol, at the University of the West of England (universally known as UWE, pronounced "Yoo-ee") Exhibition and Conference Centre. The theme for this year was "Wild West and Rodeo", so as you can imagine there was a very strong Apple Family presence. A more unwelcome presence was my cough, the entire weekend, though it was mostly kept under control by the consumption of vast quantities of mints.
This was my fourth UK PonyCon and sixth MLP convention overall, but it was the first time I'd had a travelling companion on the train – Snowkitten. (I know him better under another name, but Snowkitten is the one he used for the con book, so that's what he gets here!) After a quick yet important stop at Muffin Break at Birmingham New Street to get into the mood, we made it to Bristol Parkway on time at just before 2pm. There, we met up with Rorschfox, who I only knew through Twitter but Snowkitten had met before; he'd kindly offered to give us a lift to the hotel where all three of us were staying.
Once we'd negotiated Parkway's bizarre layout – seriously, for a relatively small station the place is a maze – it was a fairly brief journey to the Premier Inn on the Filton roundabout. We checked in and spent a little while chatting about this and that, and (among other things, not all pony-related) Rorschfox gave me a beautiful 4DE Flutterplush, which has always been quite hard to get in the UK, and a really nice card he'd asked Kelly Sheridan to sign with a little message to me while at BronyCon
After dumping our bags, we had a quick scoot(aloo) around Home Bargains to see what they had in the way of Pony. Reshelving meant there wasn't much, but GoH Big Spike was there for a tenner. We then had a decent enough meal (gammon steak in my case) at the Brewers Fayre adjacent to the hotel, and there was of course more chatting. We were slightly disappointed not to meet any other con attendees, but we knew some were getting in much later, and in any case that state of affairs would change.
We all felt we'd like a fairly early night, given that our plans required us to be up before dawn on Saturday morning. As happens irritatingly often, I couldn't get to sleep for ages, and let's just say that I failed the first part of the 6-2-1 Rule with a vengeance. At least I got some shut-eye. I can't imagine how people manage who share rooms with friends; I've always shelled out for a single room at cons, because I absolutely need peace and quiet overnight at my age!
Next time: rainbows, karaoke and Awesome Applejacks
Sunday, 22 October 2017
Text Review Roundup: My Little Pony: The Movie (part 1)
Come on, I could hardly not do a TRR for this, could I? Unsurprisingly, there are a lot more review sources than for show episodes, so I have had to pick and choose a little bit. I'm prioritising freely accessible, non-paywalled sites, but I am not giving priority to those reviewers who happen to agree with me. This is intended to be a reasonable cross-section. Also, the amount of syndication in US movie reviewing is ridiculous.
As a large number of these are professional reviews, there have been many more text-based reviews than we get for an episode – a YouTube video just won't cut it if you're writing for a national publication. So it's a long list – seriously, a long list! Off we go, then. As it's inevitably very spoilery, I'm using a page break – come past the cut for the reviews!
Note: I will probably do a separate TRR at some point for reviews from British sources, and maybe even another for text-based reviews of the movie from within the fandom.
As a large number of these are professional reviews, there have been many more text-based reviews than we get for an episode – a YouTube video just won't cut it if you're writing for a national publication. So it's a long list – seriously, a long list! Off we go, then. As it's inevitably very spoilery, I'm using a page break – come past the cut for the reviews!
Note: I will probably do a separate TRR at some point for reviews from British sources, and maybe even another for text-based reviews of the movie from within the fandom.
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